(Trinidad Guardian) It’s only been four months since the calypso fraternity of T&T grieved the loss of one of its iconic female calypsonians, with the passing of Sandra “Singing Sandra” DesVignes-Millington in February.
Now, over that loss came yesterday’s news of the passing of calypso composer extraordinaire, Dr Winsford “Joker” Devine.
Devine, 78, who had been ailing for some time, passed away at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital at 4 am yesterday, after complaining of pain in his chest.
Speaking with Guardian Media, his daughter Alison said her father’s death, though painful, was something Devine was preparing his family for.
“For the last two months, he kept on telling us, he doesn’t think he has long again. I think it was like he was kind of preparing us for it,” she said.
She said her father, who had diabetes and also suffered from high blood pressure, made frequent trips to the hospital recently after suffering two or three strokes, not inclusive of the first one he suffered in 1998—the latter which left him in use of a wheelchair.
She said, he also had problems moving one of his arms and would complain of chest pains.
“It would come and go. Some days he would be good, some days he would be kind of, not too good.”
The father of eight leaves behind his children, grandchildren and wife Theresa, of over 50 years.
Devine, a self-taught musician penned over 600 songs in his career, writing for well-celebrated calypsonians like the Mighty Sparrow, Baron, and The Mighty Trini. The familiar sweet soca songs performed by such calypsonians included the infectious Sailfish, Doh Rock it So, and Curry Tabanca.
But with Devine, there were no barriers, when it came to recipients of his craft, as he was also responsible for a young Machel Montano’s soca sing-along—Too Young to Soca and even lent his gift of composing to the gospel fraternity, penning God is Love, for ‘gospelypso’ artiste Sean Daniel.
His writing style would switch from an upbeat tempo to the penmanship of social and political commentary like Capitalism Gone Mad, sung and performed by the Mighty Sparrow, who benefited from Devine’s writing talent for 17 years.
As much as he loved calypso and soca, pan also held a special place in Devine’s heart. The pan arena was his first home as it was where his career in the arts began as a young boy. Some of his pan compositions included, 1971’s Queen of the Bands, 1972’s Drunk and Disorderly, 1973’s Melody, and 1978’s Du Du Yemi, which took the panorama title that year.
